Sometimes, the Flu Is Just the Flu
by Vamp61616
Summary: With a killer illness picking off the orphans, and the dead missing from their graves, how will the Champions cope with the news that both Susan and Richard havefallen ill? H/C Drama with some angst and my OC, Susan Redman
1. Chapter 1

SECOND CHAMPIONS FANFICTION! For anyone wondering, Timmy _is _the boy in pyjamas who said "We missed you" to Susan in teh first fic

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Richard, Sharron and Craig were in Tremayne's office when Susan walked in. Her head was lowered, tears streaming down her face.

"Susan!" Tremayne exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Sharron asked.

"D-don't worry. It's nothing. Just… pretend I'm not here," Susan sniffed. Richard stood next to her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It certainly doesn't look like nothing," he noted. Susan kept her head down, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone, least of all Richard. She didn't want him to see her cry. She wasn't entirely sure why, though. If it were just Craig, or even all of them without Richard, she mightn't have been so shy, but she simply _couldn't _cry in front of him. With Craig, she felt she didn't have to be so grown up all the time, but Richard… she didn't even know why she was more grown up around him than the others.

"I'm not crying," she assured, "I'm not!"

"Of course you aren't," Sharron soothed.

"There's just something in your eye, right?" Craig added.

"Mhm…" Susan confirmed, nodding slightly.

"Well, then, come with me and I'll help you get rid of it," Richard said, guiding her out of the office.

"Now," he said when they were safely out of Nemesis, "are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

Susan hesitated. _Just tell him, _she thought to herself, _He's Richard. Richard'll know what to do, won't he?_

"It's…" she sniffed, biting back another wave of tears, "Timmy. He's the smallest… _Was _the smallest… He died this morning."

"I'm sorry," Richard said sympathetically.

"It's not just him, though…" Susan whimpered, "It's been going on for a few days now. They get sick, then not a day later they're dead!" She burst into tears again, not bothering to hide it as she gazed up at him, "They're my family! There's only five of us left now, I can't let them all die like this!"

She ran a hand frustratedly over her face, "I should've acted sooner. The moment I knew something was fishy about it, I should've told you. But I just let it carry on, thinking I'd never get anywhere without proof it wasn't just… I don't know… a really bad flu or something. I mean, it still could be, but… Timmy."

"Susan…" Richard knelt in front of her, putting his hands on her shoulders, "Calm down. Now, I can't promise we'll find the answer quickly, but we'll do what we can," he assured. Susan gave him a watery smile.

"I'm glad you're honest about things, Richard. I… I told Timmy it'd all be okay, even though I knew it wasn't. I suppose it made him feel better, but I felt guilty that he didn't understand what was happening… I'm happy that you think I'm grown-up enough to know the truth. I think I prefer it to a false promise." She sniffed, wiping the back of her hand across her eyes and smiling up at him, like a fangirl awed by the presence of their idol.

"Susan! I thought you'd be here!" A girl with long brown hair rushed suddenly up to them. She was wearing an old, ripped top that was possibly white once, and a torn blue skirt.

"Rebecca!" Susan ran to greet the girl, who was a good few inches taller than her, "Richard, this is Rebecca Morriss, she's my second in command, even though she's two years older than me, of course. Rebecca, this is Richard Barrett. He's a good friend of mine. He can help us!" she introduced. Rebecca gasped, looking hopefully up at the man.

"You are?" she asked excitedly.

"I can try," Richard replied.

"I… I think you'd better come back to the alleyway with us, sir," she sighed at Susan's puzzled expression, "It's getting worse. Scott and Laura went down at the same time, not five minutes ago."

"_What?" _Susan exclaimed, darting away without a 'thanks for letting me know', or even a 'see you there!'


	2. Chapter 2

I'm back and I'm raaaaaaaaring to go! Thanks for all your amazingly kind and helpful comments

/sarcasm

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"You go ahead," Richard told Rebecca, "I'll be right behind you. There's… something I've got to do first."

Rebecca gave a polite nod. "Thank you, sir," she said before darting off in the same direction as Susan. Meanwhile, Richard was making his way back up the corridors of Nemesis HQ. He was halfway to Tremayne's office when Craig and Sharron met him coming out. Both of their faces were lined with worry.

"We heard," Sharron confirmed. They kept walking, out of Nemesis and towards the alleyway a few streets away. The alleyway where Susan and her orphans had decided to make their home.

They found Susan crouching over two figures, a boy and girl, both motionless on the ground. She was breathing heavily, obviously holding back tears as they approached.

"They'll be unconscious for a while," she told them, not looking up, "They always are. They go unconscious and then they start breathing really heavily. When they start choking and shaking you know it's close…" She sighed, standing up and striding further down the alleyway, coming to stop just far enough away so that she could still see what was happening. "Go ahead," she consented, as Sharron gestured to examine the two children.

Scott and Laura weren't much younger than Susan; around eleven years old. They both had messy, light brown hair and deep green eyes.

"They were twins," Susan informed, "Scottish. So bright and full of life. I told them a bit about you three. Scott said he wanted to be American when he grows up." She sent a watery smile in Craig's direction.

"They're not dead yet," Sharron said, noticing the usae of past tense.

"They might as well be," Susan replied sadly, turning and walking out of sight.

Sharron sighed, examining the children. She checked them up and down, looking under their eyelids and rolling up their sleeves. After a while, she paused.

"Susan was right," she confirmed, "Whatever's killing them, it's not natural, look!" She showed Richard and Craig both child's wrist. Each had identical pinpricks on their wrist; recent, and surrounded by a sore redness of the skin.

"They've been injected with something," Richard noted, "Some sort of drug, or poison?"

"Must be," Sharron confirmed.

"Now why would someone kill off a bunch of innocent kids?" Craig mused.

"Perhaps they need the bodies for something?" Richard speculated.

"S-so it's true then?" Rebecca asked shyly, "Someone's been killing us off?"

"I'm afraid so," Sharron confirmed gravely.

"Susan's not gonna be happy about this," Craig sighed.

"If she could be considered happy to start with," Richard agreed, "But whoever this is," he added to Rebecca, who had started to tremble, "I promise we'll do our best to stop anyone else getting hurt."

Rebecca gave a small curtsey, "Thank you, sir."


End file.
